(CNN) -- More than 150 students at the University of California at Berkeley took over a campus building Thursday to protest a proposed 81% increase in tuition fees, university officials said.

UC-Berkeley spokeswoman Callie Maidhof described the scene as "an open occupation with people coming and going" at Tolman Hall on the campus that has been known for decades as a hotbed of student activism and protests.

The tuition increase proposed by the board of regents would be phased in over a four-year period.

Maidhof added that when the protest began Thursday afternoon, campus police initially resisted the demonstrators and used pepper spray at one point. The university maintained a hands-off approach after that, but according to Maidhof the situation could change at the building's scheduled closing time of 9 p.m. (midnight ET).

As evening fell, there were between 60 and 70 students occupying one of the classrooms and another group was participating in a teach-in outside on the lawn.

Helicopter aerials of the scene from CNN affiliate KTVU showed a few protest banners hung from windows of the classroom building.

About this site

This blog was created with a single purpose of making folks become aware about corrupt
billion dollar student loans business. We built this not only to educate the public
about college conspiracy and everlasting financial burden that Student Loans sets
on us, nonetheless to provide assistance in a form of Student Loan debt settlement.
We are a small team of experts, dedicated to providing superior service and step-by-step
guidance to consumers who seeking to escape from everlasting Student Loans debt.